Kentucky Town Elects Pit Bull as Mayor

On Nov. 8, the small town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, elected a leader everybody can get behind: a dog named, wait for it, Brynneth Pawltro.

The pit bull was declared mayor in a landslide victory, receiving 3,367 total votes and beating out a unique group of furry and feathery candidates, including a cat, a chicken and a jackass.

“She’s a lover, she’s such a sweet dog. She is a pit bull rescue and she’s going to be quite the ambassador for that breed,” says Bobbi Kayser, who is on the board of directors for the Rabbit Hash Historical Society in Kentucky, where ballots were cast on Tuesday.

The election was held as a fundraiser for the Rabbit Hash General Store, which was devastated by a fire in February and in desperate need of repair. Each vote cost $1 to cast — voters could cast as many ballots as their wallets allowed — and after all was said and done, $8,965 was raised, which will go toward rebuilding the store. The historical society also gave official “ambassador” positions to the 1st and 2nd runner ups, dogs Bourbon and Lady, who had 2,336 and 1,621 votes respectively.

Some of the votes may have been alcohol-induced, Kayser joked.

“We encourage drinking at the polls,” she tells PEOPLE, “because people tend to donate more if they’ve had a few.”

Brynneth, also known as Brynn, is owned by college student Jordie Bamforth, who works for an animal hospital.

This is the town’s fourth canine mayor, with the first, a mutt named Goofy, taking office in 1998. A black Lab named Junior followed a few years later. In 2008, the same year Obama was elected, a border collie named Lucy Lou, belonging to Kayser, earned the title.

Lucy Lou retired on Nov. 8 and is notable because she’s the only former canine mayor not to die in office.

“Lucy saw the writing on the wall, and didn’t want to die in office,” Kayser tells PEOPLE. “She decided to set term limits.”